Thursday, September 8, 2011

Poll workers stage nationwide streamer hanging to demand salary adjustment

Commission on Elections (COMELEC) employees in the central and field offices will be putting up posters and streamers calling for the adjustment on their salaries during their lunch break on Friday, September, 2011.



Under the auspices of the COMELEC Wage Fight! Alliance, a coalition of poll workers united in pushing for wage increase, the activity aims to “highlight the growing clamour of COMELEC employees for a substantial increase in our salaries.”


“Through the participation of COMELEC rank and file employees in all corners of the country (in the nationally coordinated streamer/poster hanging) we hope to be able to send a strong message that our call has reached the national level,” the group said.



Main Office
Palacio del Gobernad
According to the COMELEC Wage Fight! The calls for tomorrow’s activity include:
  • EQUAL WORK, EQUAL PAY!
  • ITAMA ANG SAHOD SA COMELEC!
  •  CORRECT THE UNJUST WAGE DISPARITY!
  • 3-5 SALARY GRADE INCREASE NOW!
OEO Daraga, Albay
Mac Ramirez, convenor of the COMELEC Wage Fight Alliance, explains that there is a “glaring disparity” in the salary schedule of COMELEC employees as compared to employees in their government agencies.

“The salary that we receive here in the COMELEC is not at par with those received by workers in other government agencies corporations, financial institutions and constitutional bodies.  The disparity ranges from three to five salary grade levels,” he said.

Legazpi City
Ramirez cited for example that a Clerk I position in the COMELEC only has a Salary Grade (SG) level 3, while in other government agencies the lowest SG level for Clerks is SG7.

Election Officers, which holds the sacred responsibility of supervising the conduct of elections at the ground level, are likewise victimized by this glaring wage gap according to Ramirez.

Camarines Sur
“They only hold an SG level 12 (for small electoral municipality) and SG 21 (for capital towns and cities); yet, considering their workload and actual responsibilities, the position of Election Officer is equivalent to that of a Division Chief level which has SG 24.”

POLL WORKERS TO SENATE: “RAISE OUR APPEAL FOR WAGE INCREASE TO BRILLANTES ON CA HEARING”

COMELEC Wage Fight Convenor Armando Mallorca, on September 8, 2011, presents to Chairman Sixto Brillantes the Alliance's position paper on the proposed salary adjustment of COMELEC personnel. Prior to this, COMELEC Wage Fight leaders (Mallorca, Mac Ramirez, Gel Gerardino) discussed our position with the Chairman. The Chairman was open to our proposal and has agreed to set a series of meetings to iron out our salary increase before 2012.
“The imminent increases in petroleum, transportation, toll and water costs more than justifies our appeal for a substantial increase in our salaries.  We hope that the COMELEC, under the leadership of Chairman Sixto Brillantes, would look into the deplorable plight of the COMELEC rank and file and grant our appeal,” Ramirez said.

In support for Nanay & Tatay
Concludes Ramirez: “As the Honourable Chairman is set to appear before the powerful Committee on Appointments next week, we appeal to the Senators to take on the cudgels for the COMELEC rank and file, and raise our demand for a substantial wage increase with Chairman Brillantes as he takes the hot seat for his confirmation hearing.” 

Monday, September 5, 2011

House OKs allocation of P8 billion for 2013 poll automation



MANILA, Philippines - The House appropriations committee has endorsed the allocation of nearly P8 billion for the automation of the May 2013 congressional and local elections.

The amount is 80 percent of the P10-billion 2012 budget of the Commission on Elections (Comelec).

The money will be for the purchase or lease of computer machines to be used in the casting of ballots and counting of votes.

They would be similar to the precinct count optical scan (PCOS) machines used in the May 2010 elections.

To save on cost, Cagayan de Oro City Rep. Rufus Rodriguez urged Comelec officials to study whether the PCOS units they leased from Smartmatic, the poll body’s automation contractor, could still be used in 2013 with some safeguards.

He said the Comelec has already paid Smartmatic more than P6 billion and has the option under its contract to purchase the PCOS machines at a discounted price of P1.8 billion.

“If we can use those machines for 2013 and one more national election, we will be saving taxpayers at least P6.2 billion,” he said.

Comelec Commissioner Gus Lagman, who was against the use of PCOS in 2010 when he was a private information technology consultant, said it was not practical for the poll body to buy PCOS machines.

He said warehousing would be a problem, plus the fact that technology changes fast.

He added it would be better for the Comelec to lease instead of buying the machines it would use in 2013.

Rodriguez, a member of the House of Representatives Electoral Tribunal (HRET), said he, like Lagman, did not believe in PCOS when the Comelec was trying to convince lawmakers and the public about the technology.

“But now I am a believer. I saw how accurate the PCOS results were when we matched them with the actual count of votes in resolving election protest cases in the HRET. Because of their accuracy, we are now about to resolve all cases,” he said.

Because PCOS tabulation results were available at the municipal, city and provincial levels, Rodriguez said the nation knew in a few days that then Sen. Benigno Aquino III won the 2010 presidential election.

“Long before the official congressional canvass started, we knew President Aquino won. The Filipino people and foreign governments were already congratulating him. Election operators could not tamper with the PCOS. It would have been a different story if the old manual, cheating-prone system were used,” he stressed.

The lawmaker said that if the Comelec decides to use the PCOS, it should put in place additional safeguards since election operators and cheaters might have already studied how the technology works.

Besides the P8 billion in automation funds, the 2012 Comelec budget includes P123.2 million for the resumption of the system of continuing registration.

The poll body sought an additional P51.5 million for preparations for overseas absentee voting, but the Department of Budget and Management (DBM) gave the money to the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA).

The Comelec intends to use the bulk of the funds for travel expenses since it would have to send teams to countries where there are large numbers of Filipinos.

The DBM transferred the money to the DFA apparently to save on cost.

COMELEC rushes preps for 2013 polls

To avoid further delay in the preparations for the 2013 elections, the Comelec pushed for the immediate convening of the poll body’s advisory council.

Comelec Chairman Sixto Brillantes said there is a need for the newly created Information and Communications Technology Office (ICTO) to immediately convene the Comelec Advisory Council and initiate the first step in election preparations.

“We need to move fast because we are already late (in our preparations) for the 2013 polls. We cannot move without the CAC,” Brillantes said.
Last June, President Aquino issued an order dissolving the Commission on Information and Communications Technology (CICT) and reorganizing it into ICTO under the Department of Science and Technology (DOST).

Malacañang named Louis Casambre as the executive director of ICTO. He will sit as chairman of the CAC with members coming one each from the DOST and the Department of Education, and another from academe, three from the IT industry, and two from poll reform groups.

The CAC shall have the function of recommending to the Comelec the “most appropriate, secure, applicable and cost-effective technology” to be used as the automated election system (AES).

“We want to start early and we already have a plan, the CAC should recommend the approval,” Brillantes said. – By: Mayen Jaymalin

Sunday, July 31, 2011

COMELEC Chairman Brillantes promotes early voter registration at LRT

Commission on Elections (COMELEC) Chairman Sixto S. Brillantes Jr. this morning rode the Light Rail Transit (LRT) to drive home the poll body’s call for the Filipino public to register as voters.

Brillantes was at the Recto Station of the LRT Line 2 Friday, 29 July 2011, to inspect the installation of COMELEC posters and streamers at LRT stations and terminals.

Saying that he wanted to personally talk to the commuting public, the 72 year old poll chief asked representatives from the Light Rail Transit Authority (LRTA) if he could ride the LRT to return to his office in Intramuros Manila.

LRTA officials told the COMELEC Chairman that if he wanted to ride a train to the LRT Line 1 Central Terminal in Arroceros, Manila, which is the LRT station nearest the COMELEC Office, he would have to walk for about five minutes to reach the Doroteo Jose Station of the LRT line 1.

Brillantes gamely obliged, saying that he doesn’t mind the long walk as he misses riding the train.

Upon reaching the Doroteo Jose Station, Brillantes boarded a coach meant for females, children, persons with disabilities (PWDs) and senior citizens. He refused offers from people for the Chairman to take their seats.

“I wanted to personally tell the LRT commuters to register and register early. People should not wait for the deadline before they go to COMELEC offices to register,” Brillantes said.

“This is also a call for the public to patronize the LRT, not only because riding its trains are good for the environment, the LRT is also strong supporter of the Filipino people’s right to suffrage.”

Brillantes said that the LRTA allowed the COMELEC to post voter registration posters and streamers at all LRT stations and terminals.

Monday, July 25, 2011

COMELEC eyes own poll technology for 2013 elections

COMELEC COMMISSIONER AUGUSTO LAGMAN

MANILA, Philippines – The Commission on Elections (Comelec) will develop its own canvassing and consolidation system for automated 2013 mid-term polls as part of a five-year program that it will put in place under the Aquino administration.

Comelec Commissioner Augusto Lagman said the agency intends to tap “Filipino-developed” technology for the canvassing and consolidation of ballots when it holds the 2013 polls.

“We like Filipino-developed technology to be used. We want the Comelec to be more involved in the implementation of election and so one very important aspect is to upgrade the information technology (IT) competence of the in-house personnel,” Lagman said.

Under the Comelec Strategic Plan 2011-2016 (Comstrat), the poll body will “enhance the IT capability of Comelec to support the conduct of modernized, efficient, transparent and credible elections and election adjudication.”

The poll body intends to strengthen the capability of election personnel for information and communication technology.  This will be done by hiring IT experts and by submitting personnel from the main and field offices to IT proficiency training.

Comstrat serves as the blueprint of Comelec’s efforts to modernize, reform and redeem the integrity of the agency.

“One very important step is to upgrade the IT competence of the in-house personnel.  That’s number one in our list,” said Lagman

“We are lining up a list of training courses that they (employees) would undergo so that they could upgrade their (IT) competence and capability,” he added.

Lagman, however, clarified that their initial plan will be to develop their own “back-end” system but not the “front-end” yet.

He noted that the back-end is composed of the consolidation and canvassing part while the front-end are the voting, counting and transmission.

“(It is) because canvassing and consolidation does not change no matter what front-end system we adopt.  Whether it is Optical Mark Reader, Precinct Count Optical Scan, Direct Recording Electronic, even manual… no matter what front-end we use, we’ll all use the same canvassing and consolidation system,” explained Lagman, who was an IT expert prior to his appointment to the commission.

Lagman noted that canvassing and consolidation – the “back-end” aspect of the election – “do not change no matter what technology for front-end system we adopt.”

“Whether it is optical mark reader (OMR), precinct count optical scan (PCOS) and direct recording electronic (DRE).  No matter what (front-end) system we use, even manual, we’ll all use the same canvassing and consolidation system,” he said, referring to technologies that were leased by the Comelec for use in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) in 2008 and in the May 2010 presidential 

“We’d like the Comelec to develop that part of the system.  And we want to own it because it can be used from one election to the other election. It’s the Comelec which will master the running part of that,” Lagman maintained.


Tuesday, July 5, 2011

R.A. No. 10153 - Law to postpone August 8 ARMM Elections

Republic of the Philippines
Congress of the Philippines
Metro Manila

Fifteenth Congress
First Regular Session

Begun and held in Metro Manila, on Monday, the twenty-sixth day of July, two thousand ten.

REPUBLIC ACT NO. 10153

AN ACT PROVIDING FOR THE SYNCHRONIZATION OF THE ELECTIONS IN THE AUTONOMOUS REGION IN MUSLIM MINDANAO (ARMM) WITH THE NATIONAL AND LOCAL ELECTIONS AND FOR OTHER PURPOSES

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the Philippines in Congress assembled:

SECTION 1. Declaration of Policy. In accordance with the intent and mandate of the Constitution and Republic Act No. 7166, entitled: “An Act Providing for Synchronized National and Local Elections and for Electoral Reforms, Authorizing Appropriations Therefor, and for Other Purposes”, it is hereby declared the policy of the State to synchronize national and local elections.  Pursuant thereto, the elections in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) is hereby synchronized with the national and local elections as hereinafter provided.

SEC. 2. Regular Elections.The regular elections for the Regional Governor, Regional Vice Governor and Members of the Regional Legislative Assembly of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) shall be held on the second (2nd) Monday of May 2013.  Succeeding regular elections shall be held on the same date every three (3) years thereafter.

SEC. 3. Appointment of Officers-in-Charge.The President shall appoint officers-in-charge for the Office of the Regional Governor, Regional Vice Governor and Members of the Regional Legislative Assembly who shall perform the functions pertaining to the said offices until the officials duly elected in the May 2013 elections shall have qualified and assumed office.

SEC. 4. Manner and Procedure of Appointing Officers-in-Charge.There shall be created a screening committee, whose members shall be appointed by the President, which shall screen and recommend, in consultation with the Speaker of the House of Representatives and the Senate President, the persons who will be appointed as Officers-in-Charge.

SEC. 5. Qualifications.No person shall be appointed officer-in-charge unless he or she complies with the qualifications for Regional Governor, Regional Vice Governor or Members of the Regional Legislative Assembly of the ARMM, as provided in Republic Act No. 6734, entitled: “An Act Providing for an Organic Act for the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao”, as amended by Republic Act No. 9054, entitled: “As Act to Strengthen and Expand the Organic Act for the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao, Amending for the Purpose Republic Act No. 6734″.

SEC. 6. Study and Review of the Organic Act.The appointed Members of the Regional Legislative Assembly of the ARMM shall conduct a study and review of Republic Act No. 9054 and submit recommendations to the Congress of the Philippines within six (6) months from their assumption into office.

SEC. 7. Separability Clause.In the event any part or provision of this Act is held invalid or unconstitutional, other provisions not affected thereby shall remain in force and effect.

SEC. 8. Repealing Clause.Republic Act No. 9333 is hereby repealed. All laws, decrees, orders, rules and regulations and other issuances or parts thereof which are inconsistent with this Act are hereby repealed, amended or modified accordingly.

SEC. 9. Effectivity Clause.This Act shall take effect immediately upon the completion, of its publication in two (2) newspapers of general circulation.

Approved,

(Sgd.) JUAN PONCE ENRILE
President of the Senate
(Sgd.) FELICIANO BELMONTE JR.
Speaker of the House of Representatives

This Act which originated in the House of Representatives was finally passed by the House of Representatives and the Senate on June 7, 2011 and June 6,2011, respectively.

(Sgd.) EMMA LIRIO-REYES
Secretary of the Senate
(Sgd.) MARILYN B. BARUA-YAP
Secretary General
House of Representatives

Approved: June 30, 2011

( Sgd.) BENIGNO SIMEON C. AQUINO III
President of the Philippines

Friday, June 24, 2011

Campaign for August 8 ARMM polls begins Friday, since no law mandates to postpone it

MAKATI CITY (MindaNews/23 June) – The campaign period for the August 8 elections in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) begins Friday, June 24 with former Sultan Kudarat Governor Pax Mangudadatu and Margarita “Tingting” Cojuangco, the PDP’s candidates for governor and vice governor, firing their opening salvo with a “leaders’ forum” in Datu Odin Sinsuat town in Maguindanao, Cojuangco’s poll advisor, Annie Andanar said.
Congress in early June passed a bill resetting the August 8 elections in the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) to synchronize it with the May 13, 2013 national mid-term elections and to allow President Aquino to appoint officers-in-charge in the interim but the bill he earlier certified as urgent, has yet to be signed into law.
Mr. Aquino is scheduled to sign it on June 30, a full year after he took his oath of office as President.
Presidential Adviser on the Peace Process Teresita Quintos-Deles told MindaNews the signing has been scheduled for June 30 to allow the bill’s sponsors to witness the signing.
House Minority Leader Edcel Lagman said President Aquino is deliberately delaying the signing to deny the Supreme Court time to rule on the expected petitions questioning the new law.
The law presently governing the ARMM mandates a 45-day campaign period for the elections that are supposed to be held every three years.
In force
James Jimenez, spokesperson of the Commission on Elections (Comelec) told MindaNews immediately after the approval of the bill that Comelec will “stop preparations as soon as it is signed into law. The law should be considered sound until overturned.”
On June 23, he told MindaNews that because the bill has not been signed into law, they have not issued a notice stopping all election activities “so technically, the calendar of activities (in relation to the August 8 polls) will still be in force. Hence, the campaign period will start as scheduled.”
Andanar told MindaNews, “we are embarking on an alternative campaign beginning tomorrow, June 24.” She said they will hold a “leaders’ forum” at 6 p.m. tomorrow in Datu Odin Sinsuat town, Maguindanao, where Cojuangco has a house and where her voter’s registration was transferred.
Cojuangco is an aunt of President Benigno Simeon Aquino.
Andanar said the “leaders’ forum” will be held after the celebration of Mangudadatu’s birthday also tomorrow in Sultan Kudarat province. Mangudadatu, former governor and representative of Sultan Kudarat province transferred his voter’s registration to Buluan town in Maguindanao early last year. Sultan Kudarat province is not part of the ARMM.
She said there will be “no big rallies,” adding there will be “maximum interaction with the community formal and informal leaders, dialogues to engage the voters to participate in the exercise of their right to elect their regional officials under the organic law RA 9054.”
To the Supreme Court
Earlier, groups against the postponement of the August 8 polls had signified they would go to the Supreme Court to question the validity of the new law but no petition can be filed as yet because the bill has not been signed into law.
“The PDP-Laban, Pax Mangudadatu and I are definitely going to the Supreme Court to convince the high tribunal that pushing through with the August 8, 2011 elections was what the Constitution mandates,” the Manila Standard quoted Cojuangco as saying in its June 8 report.
Cojuangco said they were confident the Supreme Court will rule in their favor. “The Supreme Court will see in our petition that the Constitution grants the people of ARMM the freedom to choose their own leaders and the naming of OICs by the President is contrary to what is mandated by the Constitution,” she said.
Fourteen candidates for governor and 16 for vice governor filed their certificates of candidacy as of the deadline midnight of May 25.
Only two political parties fielded candidates: PDP-Laban’s Mangudadatu-Cojuangco and the Kilusang Bagong Lipunan (KBL).
Candidates
The Comelec’s list of candidates for governor: Ashmaira Mayasa Abdullah, incumbent Lanao del Sur Governor Mamintal Alonto Adiong, Saad Ibrahim Amate, Pangalian Macaorao Balindong, Ephraim Baldomero Defino, former Anak Mindanaw partylist Rep. Mujiv Sabbihi Hataman, former OIC ARMM Governor Alvarez Silal Isnaji, Ansaroden Magangcong Sani Banuas Luman Moner, former Sultan Kudarat governor and representative Pax Pakung Sandigan Mangudadatu, Kadra Asani Masihul (KBL), Datu Habib Sarifuddin Samanodi Maulana, Elsie New Orejudos, former OIC Lanao del Sur Governor Saidamen Balt Pangarungan and Sahiron Dulah Salim.
Acting ARMM Governor Ansaruddin-Abdul Malik Alonto Adiong, brother of Mamintal, won the vice gubernatorial post in 2005 and 2008, as Zaldy Ampatuan’s running mate. He filed his certificate of candidacy for governor last Monday but slid down to vice governor after his elder brother, the Lanao del Sur governor, filed a COC for ARMM governor.
The candidates for vice governor are: Fatani Sultan Abdul Malik, Ansaruddin Abdul Malik Alonto Adiong, Mikunug Pangcatan Ampao, Arab Dimasimpun Ampasao, Shariffa Ziola Anding Bago, Datu Pelaez Alo Carudin, former Tarlac GovernorMargarita “Tingting” Delos Reyes Cojuangco, Bobby Manangaran Datimbang, Alikhan Awar Dimaro, Gani Usman Gaddung, Abdulbasit Ampaso Hadjinor, Omar Tani Hassiman, former Lanao del Sur governor Basher Dimalaang Manalao, Kano Pasandalan Nor, Marconi Curso Paiso Al Haj and Abdusakur II Abubakar Tan.
Based on Comelec records, 81 filed their COCs for 24 seats in the Regional Legislative Assembly. In Sulu, six candidates filed their COCs for assemblyman; nine in the second district; in Lanao del Sur, 12 filed in the first district, 12 also in the second district; in Maguindanao, five filed in the first district, 15 in the second; in Tawi-tawi, nine filed while 13 filed for three seats in the RLA representing Basilan.
Maguindanao Governor Esmael “Toto” Mangudadatu’s brother, Khadafy, an incumbent assemblyman, earlier filed a COC for vice governor but later opted for a reelection as assemblyman of the second district of Maguindanao.
Hataman, whose name has repeatedly been mentioned for appointment as OIC Governor, filed his COC for governor with no political party listed. (Carolyn O. Arguillas/MindaNews)

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